Deaths and hospitalisations following a dog bite from 1981 to 2019

You asked

Please can I make a freedom of information request for the following:

Deaths caused by dog bite/attack from 1981-2019

Hospitalisations caused by dog bite/attack from 1981-2019

Estimated dog population in UK from 1981-2019

Please break them down where possible into

Year, Age of victim, Breed of dogs involved, Area of country (county)

We said

Thank you for your request.

We are responsible for the production of Mortality data for England and Wales, this is driven by information collected from the death certificate at death registration. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.

Unfortunately, we do not hold information regarding the breed of dog that caused a death due to a dog bite, as this information is not recorded on the death certificate.

Using our NOMIS webservice, we can provide deaths due to being bitten or struck by dog by 5-year age band for 2013-2019. Please see the following table which provides this information.

ONS Crown Copyright Reserved: NOMIS

Area name: Total mortality for England and Wales

Cause of death: W54 Bitten or struck by dog

Please also see the download accompanying this response named 'NOMIS_Dogbite_2013-2019_age_and_location.xlsx'. This provides deaths due to being bitten or struck by a dog by region and 5-year age band for 2013-2019.

In order to provide you with deaths due to dog bites between 1981 to 2012 by age and location, we would need to create bespoke analysis. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Public Authorities are not obligated to create information in order to respond to requests. We therefore consider this to be information not held.

However, if the data provided on NOMIS does not meet your needs or you would like to obtain deaths due to dog bites between 1981 and 2012, we may be able to create a custom output for you. Information on deaths by specific cause along with other special extracts and tabulations of mortality data for England and Wales are available to order. These ad hoc productions are subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs, where appropriate. Such enquiries would fall outside of the Freedom of Information regime and should be made to: Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.

Unfortunately, we do not have access to hospital admissions and discharges. Therefore, we do not hold the data you have requested.

This data is held by NHS Digital, so they may be better placed to answer your query. They can be contacted via email at enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk, and by telephone at 0300 303 5678.

We do not hold information on the estimated dog population of the UK. However, the PDSA reports 4% of the UK adult population have a dog, with an estimated population of 10.1 million pet dogs.